Tag Archives: Folk

Today’s vlog is a big one, but we packed so much in to the day, so it is all here. It was the festival day in Tieschen. But we still had time to do some sight seeing. At the festival we played with the wonderful Rapalje from Holland, check them out here: http://www.rapalje.com
And we finish the vlog with the last Sliotar show of the 2016 Summer tour.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a Singer-songwriter and a daily vlogger
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

New year, new song. So here we go, I am embarking on my third year of the 52 song challenge. This weeks song looks at the world and how it has changed. How different it is for the children today, than it was for me when I was a child. Have we gone too far to turn back? It is not just how the world has changed, but how we have changed. Word seems so much scarier, because we have access to information, not because the bad things did not happen in the past. It’s just that now we know more, as the information is on our fingertips.

Are our children going to have a better chance of life if we bring them up in a bubble? Or should we just have fait that there is more good than bad int he world? And for us, today is what matters, not what has been or will be. We have one chance at this life, we have once chance to spend with the young ones, while they still are young, and that is today. So lets start the new year by acknowledging that we need to make most of this year, and to do so today, not half way down the year, when we are not so busy.

Go and grab a download of this weeks song from my Bandcamp page HERE. Do it today, not later, as later will never come. And if you put this task aside, what else are you push until the “time is right?” And share this song the word. Lets bring more music into people’s life’s in 2016 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

This week’s song is about a subject I lately have started to feel very strongly about. It is about living in a moment and being present. We too often spend our life working towards something, instead of living it. I remember when my father passed away, my mother gave me a poem that he had written. It was obviously an issue he struggled with all of his life. Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact wording (it was in Finish anyway) but the general idea was this:

When I was Primary school, I looked up towards secondary school. I would always imagine how it would be better when I get there. But as soon as I was in the secondary school, I would wonder how much better things would be in high school.

The theme continued in all walks of life. It seemed like he lived his life trying to catch up with something all the time. I took this lesson very seriously. I still get side traced from time to time, but I remind my self stop. I work on a lot of short-term goals. Sure I have big goals, but I cannot let them become the key to my happiness. I need to enjoy every step along the way. For example, this blog post. If I did not enjoy writing this, what would be the point in doing it? There are no financial pressures here, I don’t get paid for writing this. I do it because I love it and I love sharing content with you guys, whether it is songs, blog posts, photographs or vlogs.

This has an effect on everything in our lives. Do you enjoy the moment when you sit down to eat? Or is it just a refuelling pit stop? Do you enjoy conversation with your friends? Are you present? Are the holidays going to be time you spend with your family, or are rushing off to somewhere in the future?

We all need to take small breaks in our day. Stop even for a one minute and take a deep breath. Make an effort to feel the air filling your lungs. Notice how it feels for the air to go in and come back out. Just for that one minute concentrate only on that one thing. Be present.

Today’s song is sort, it does not have a chorus. And all of this is in the hopes that you can take the 2.38mins of your life and just listen and be present. It might just help you to do it in other areas of your life.

You can also grab a download copy of the song from my Bandcamp page HERE. There is no pressure to pay for it, just set the price to $0.00 and you are good to go 🙂 And if you feel as strongly about the need for all of us to be more present, please share this song with the world. And thank you once again for taking the time to listen nd read. It really means a world to me 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

This week I was on a story telling mood once again. It’s hard not to wonder from time to time where all these stories come from 😀 This weeks song is a story of a man who got into a bar room fight, defending the honour of his lady. But things get out of hand, blood is spilled and life is lost. Our character is not a bad person deep down, but has got himself enough small trouble in the past to get to know the local judge and he is sure this would not work to his advantage. So he decides to leave everything he knows, home, family, loved ones, even his country behind and become an outlaw on the run.

The thing is, there are people out there who are genuinely bad people. But at the same time there are those who just ended up in a bad situation that had life altering consequences. So let’s try not to judge people, before we hear their story. It is too easy to make someone look like they are a bad person, by only highlighting one side of the story. We all have made mistakes somewhere along the way.

And lets not forget this weeks song “Outlaw” is available for a download on my Bandcamp page HERE. Hit the play, download it and share it with the world.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

Today I have not only the usual Friday new song day, which you can check HERE, for you guys, but also a new album 🙂 I have been working bit differently this year. Last year I had a new album out about every twelve weeks. But this year I decided to concentrate more on the singles. Soon after my last album “After the Storm” every song has been available for a download from my Bandcamp page on the day I posed them on my blog. So I now have quite few songs, that I have acoustic versions recorded, but waiting for some additional instruments. I do have some budget related restrictions that are slowing me down. But at the same time there were some songs that were always supposed to be just the acoustic guitar and me 🙂 And today, a selection of those songs are out as an album titled “I Believe In You.”

So if you are more of an album person (I know I am,) it is available on iTunes, Amazon and pretty much any bigger online download store. It will also be available to stream on Apple music, Spotify and most other streaming sites. I decided against doing a big PR campaign for the album, as my focus is more on the singles themselves, but you can help me to spread the word by sharing the album on your social media sites.

Having said that, I am exited and proud of this album. I think it is some of the more intimate work I’ve done up to date and I truly hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did writing and recording it.

And how can you help me? Well, first of all you can share this page. Hit those share buttons at the end of the page as many times as you’d like 😀 You can also rate the album in iTunes, Amazon, like it in Apple music and Spotify. And most of all enjoy the music, after all that’s what this all is about. Never underestimate the power of us all working together 😉

We all messed things up somewhere along the way, no denying it. And if you try to tell me you haven’t, well then you haven’t lived life. Relationships are complicated at the best of times. And I would never condone anyone for making those mistakes. But the thing is, too often we get stuck on the mistakes we have made in the past. We drag them with us, we let them poison our future relationships.

The problem is, when we are young we look someone to make us happy. The fact is, if you are not happy on your own, no one else is not going to make you happy either. I know it’s an old cliché, but happiness starts from within. And too often we feel the need to change the other person we are with, when in reality it’s us who needs to change. And the only person who can do that is us.

If the years and my mistakes have thought me anything, is that the person that we are in a relationship with, should inspire us to be a better person, not ask us. And those mistakes we made in the past, that’s where we should leave them. We learn, and we move on. Being hung up on the past is a guaranteed way to mess up your current relationships.

This weeks song “Better Man” is all about letting go of the past, and taking on what’s here right now. Living in the moment and building a better future.

And as always, you can grab your download copy of the song from my Bandcamp page HERE. Also few of you have been asking for he lyrics of my songs, and with all of the new songs the lyrics are posted on the Bandcamp page as well. Also if the song hits home for you, do me a favour and share it with the world, all the shares really make a world of difference for me 🙂 And thank you for checking it out!

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

It’s been a week of motivational blog posts here on my website. And as if the universe was trying to tell me something, while writing this weeks song, I started to think about all the wonderful people around me, near and far. I honestly could see potential in every one of them. You see I do believe we all have purpose on this planet. We all play a part in something greater. Unfortunately many of us do lose the sight of what we are here to do. Ironically it is life itself that gets on the way.

But do you remember when you were a kid and you had a dream? Or even a teenager? I do. I wanted to be a musician more than anything else. I still do 🙂 Did you have a dream? What was it? And what happened to it? “Not everyone can be as lucky as you are,” I hear you say. Luck? What about the hard work? All the determination to keep going when everyone else told me it was not possible? What about when one of my earlier bands had a bit of success, but then dismantled as “life” got on the way? What did I do? I picked my self up and started again! Luck has played a very small part in my career. What many people misunderstand as luck, is opportunities representing them selves. And when they do, you need to grab them. I suppose I got good at that. But I also missed many opportunities due to my young foolishness. But I picked my self up and continued.

If you are fixated in the concept of luck, let me just say I believe we make our own luck. It is our actions that lead to things we call “luck.” Sure there are random incidents that happen and we consider it luck, but on a smaller scale these things happen every day all around us. You just need to be willing to grab those opportunities while they are there.

So as I said, I believe we all have a purpose. You might not be as aware of your as I am of mine. But I believe in you. I believe there is something you do so well, with so much passion that it will have a positive effect in the people around you, or even further. And if you are able to remove your self from the purpose of what you do, and concentrate on others, great things will happen. I did not write this weeks song to feel great about my self. I wrote it because I wanted to inspire as many people as possible.

So don’t think this song is not about you, because it is. It is about every one of you!I believe in you! And I believe in us. I believe we can, and do make this world of ours a better place by our own actions. Don’t give into fear, have faith in your self!

Grab a copy of this weeks song on my Bandcamp page HERE. Also I have been working hard for the past week to set up my Patreon page, which will offer you among the other things access to my Patreon feed, where I will discus even more in detail about the songs I post here on my website. You can have a sneak peek of my Patreon page HERE, but I’ll be talking more about it soon 🙂 Thank you for listening. Spread the message, and don’t forget, I believe in you!

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

Combination of few small bad decision can alter the course of our life for ever. This weeks song “Wheels for wings” once again made it’s way from somewhere deep in side the massive filing cabinet at the back of my songwriting part of my brain. There are days when I write songs very purposefully, and then there are days where the song just comes from somewhere and I don’t even know what triggered it.

The story of the song is a young man, in the early days of his adulthood, about to start a family of his own. But something in his past just don’t let him go. Every given opportunity he tries to escape it. And the easiest way is the drink. But one night those dark clouds dragged him deeper than usual. And he ended up driving home on his own, drunk. Hungry for the speed and danger, just because it made him feel alive. But drink, no mater who you are, or how great driver you think you are will compromise you. And a momentary lapse in conversation set the car flying and by the time it came to a stop, so did the life of the young man.

These are the moments where it is too late to ask what if? These are moments that happen all around us everyday. And these are comets that will have long-term consequences for years to come in the life’s of our loved ones.

A friend of mine earlier in the year was in a serious car accident. He got hit by a car, a drunk driver… An emergency operation saved his life. He was lucky and still recovering. Another young friend of mine got hit by a car while crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing. He was young, still a child at the time. It was few days before christmas. There were cars letting him cross, but one particular car was in a rush and tried to pass on an inside, and hit the young boys leg bad. Needles to say that christmas was spent in hospital recovering from an operation. And the drivers excuse was because they were in a rush… I also have a friend who lost the father of their unborn child in a car crash.

And I am sure every one of you have a story to go with mine. Rush, tiredness and lack of concentration are big things, but if I could ask you to take one thing with you from this weeks song, it is to never ever drink and drive. It does not make you look cool, or daring. It does not impress me you telling me the stories afterwards. In my books, every time you get behind a wheel of a car under the influence of alcohol, you are not only risking your own life, but every poor souls life who happened to be on the road at the time. And if you do end up like the young man in this weeks song, you will leave your loved ones asking that “what if…” for the rest of their lives.

This is without a doubt an important subject, so do me a favour and share this blog post far and wide. Maybe together we can open even one persons eyes enough to make them leave the car behind, when they are going out this weekend. You can also download the song right now from my Bandcamp page HERE (free, or name your own price). And stay safe on the road people.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE

I have few friends who are or have been in a kind of “ difficult” relationships, I’m sure we all do. And as much as you want to help someone, they need to be willing to help them selves first. I know this sounds like you might be washing your hands of it, but it is important to understand that you cannot help someone if they are not willing to help them selves. And this had me thinking about relationships again while I was writing this weeks song.

Expectations often can be very different than the reality. We have idea of a person, which can be different than the reality. And as I mentioned in the past, person can grow, but we should not try to change them. If your relationship have some fundamental problems, they won’t just go away in time. You can’t fix them by getting married, having kids, buying a house. In fact those problems become more complicated.

And as much as we need to fight for the relationships, sometimes we also need to let go. If you are not happy in your relationship, you should ask your self why that is. You should try to understand if it is something that can be fixed, or not.

Oh yeah and the white wedding… Too often have I seen couples (but especially the women) getting married just to have that special day. But when the dust settles, you realise the realities of everyday life don’t change much at all. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to discourage people form getting married. But I do wonder if the celebratory aspect of the white dress and the party where you get to be the centre of attention for that one day, was taken away form the marriage, how many people would rush into it?

So these were some of the thoughts running through my head while I was writing this weeks song. You can grab a download copy of the song right now from my Bandcamp page HERE. Let me know what you think of the song. Ad if you like it, feel free to share it with the world 🙂

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE